Diseases of the Horse's FootReeks, H. Caulton (Harry Caulton)
Science
Diseases of the Horse's Foot
Reeks, H. Caulton (Harry Caulton)
Hoofs -- Diseases; Horses -- Diseases
_Liability of Pricked Foot going undetected_.--On account of the warning
they convey to the surgeon, first place among the sequelæ of neurectomy
must be given to accidents following loss of sensation. Take, for example,
punctured foot. In any case, in the sense of being unforeseen, it is
accidental. In the neurectomized foot it becomes doubly accidental, in that
not only is it unforeseen, but that it is for some time indiscoverable.
With the foot deprived of sensation, a nail may be picked up, or a prick
sustained at the forge, and no intimation given to the attendant until pus
has underrun the horn, and broken out at the coronet. What follows, then,
is that the hoof as a whole, or the greater part of it, sloughs off.
No neurectomy should be undertaken unless this contingency has been allowed
for. The owner should be advised of it by the surgeon, who should at the
same time enjoin on his client the absolute necessity of giving to the
neurectomized foot daily and careful attention.
_Loss of Tone in the Non-sensitive Area_.--In addition to the mischief
resulting from a wound going undetected, it must be remembered that the
loss of tone resulting from the operation gives to every wound (however
slight), in the region supplied by the removed nerve, a sluggish and
troublesome character. Difficult to deal with as wounds about the foot
ordinarily are, they are rendered more so by a previous neurectomy.
_Gelatinous Degeneration_. This is a condition liable to occur in cases
where the operation has been too long deferred, and when considerable
structural alteration has already taken place in the shape of diseased bone
or tendon, more especially in navicular disease. It consists in a peculiar
softening of the structures of the limb, accompanied with enlargement,
due to swelling of the connective tissues, the enlargement and softening
generally making itself first apparent by a soft, pulpy swelling in the
hollow of the heel.
From this onwards the enlargement increases, and lameness becomes
excessive, the animal going more and more on his heels, until, finally, no
portion of the solar surface of the foot comes to the ground at all.
The case is hopeless, and destruction should be advised.
_Reported Case_.--'The patient, a brown carriage gelding, was brought to
the Royal Veterinary College infirmary in a cart on December 31, the only
previous history obtainable being that it had suddenly fallen lame a month
before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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